Taken, not Gone
by Lizzy '-' rocks
Summary: Someone's kidnapping State Alchemists. Nobody's sure who it is, but the adventure begins when the Fullmetal Alchemist we all know and love is taken. Will he be saved? (DISCONTINUED.)
1. Chapter 1

A/N- This story came to me while I was... Riding on a train. Al's a person, not a suit of armor, but Ed still has Auto- Mail. I dunno why- it just worked out that way. And Hughes is alive. And, sorry, I couldn't make Ed swear as much as I wanted to (keeping it rated 'T' here, people!) Also, Al does alchemy without a circle.

Once again, the Elric brothers were about to miss their train. Running down the platform, the train's whistle blew just as they arrived at the nearest car. Thrusting their tickets in the conductor's face, they collapsed into their seats just as the train pulled out of the station.

"Phew" Ed said, "That was close." His brother, Alphonse, nodded in agreement. "But if you hadn't stopped to yell at that kid in the station, we could have been on time." Ed sunk down in his seat.

"He couldn't have been more than like nine and he was taller than me. TALLER THAN ME! And then he bumps into me and says, 'Oh, sorry, little guy'! LITTLE! How dare he?"

Ed slid even further down in his seat, and propped his feet on the empty seat across from him. That's why, when the shot was fired, Ed couldn't even dodge it. He heard it, and a split second later a blinding pain stabbed his arm- His real one, not his Auto- Mail.

"BROTHER!" Alphonse screamed, and that was the last thing Ed heard before he blacked out entirely.

-(this is a line)-

"Will he be okay?" Al asked.

"Well, he'll be pretty sore for about two weeks- that's for sure." The doctor left the room, leaving Al with only his unconscious brother, laying on the bed. His unbraided hair was splayed across the pillow, and his closed eyes were relaxed to make him look a lot... younger.

Alphonse moved to a couch in the corner of the room, and picked up a mystery novel sitting next to him. But it didn't look very interesting, and he looked up just in time to see a small gray and white cat come into the room.

"Here, kitty- kitty!" Al whispered until the cat came and sat next to him, purring. It didn't sit there long before it got up and leapt off of the couch. Al stood up as well, and followed the cat. It walked across the room, and jumped up onto Ed's bed.

Ed grumbled something and pushed his hair out of his face with his Auto- Mail arm.

"What the hell happened?" he asked, opening his eyes. Al jumped a little, then sat on the edge of the bed.

"Well... We were riding on the train, and somebody shot you! They hit your arm, but they were probably aiming for..." Al trailed off, and put a hand on his brother's shirt, right over his heart.

"They were trying to kill you, but the train hit a bump and the person's aim got messed up. Or that's what the police said, anyway. Ed sighed heavily, and placed his Auto- Mail arm over the bandage on his shoulder wincing.

"Why the hell would someone wanna shoot me?" he asked, more to himself than to Al. Al shrugged and muttered, "I wish I knew."

-(this is a line)-

One agonizingly long week later, Ed was finally deemed well enough to travel. His arm in a sling and his golden hair re- braided*, he walked next to Al down the street. "Where to now, brother?" Al asked. "I really don't want to take the train. Not for a while, anyways. If something like that happens again, you might not be saved by a bump in the track."

Ed nodded. "The town we're headed for is only about ten miles away. I guess we have to walk." And so, with no other options, the brothers walked out of town.

After about half an hour of silence, Ed spoke up.

"You know, Al, we're gonna have to take trains again eventually. Walking will slow down everything- and we don't have time for ten- mile strolls through the desert." Al paused before responding.

"Let's wait, at least a little while. I just don't want you to get shot like this again. Because whoever shot at you was trying to kill you."

"I just wanna know who the heck tried to kill me. I've got a bone to pick with him. With my arm in a sling, I can't do alchemy. And the two of us aren't exactly good at avoiding fights." Al chuckled.

"You do most of the fight- starting. I just help you with the fight- ending" Ed gave a small smirk. "True enough."

A moment later, Ed stumbled over something in the sand and face- planted, landing straight on his injured shoulder. He groaned and rolled over, then sat up using his metal arm as a support.

"Dammit!" he muttered and looked back to where he'd tripped. There was a large rock, half- buried. Ed was ready to shrug it off and keep walking, but then he noticed that there were about a dozen spikes poking out of the sand. Looking down at himself he noticed a few small poke holes in his shirt. Reaching up to his face, he felt a few more of the punctures. He jumped up and took a few steps backwards.

"What happened?" Al asked, looking back and forth from his brother to the patch of sand.

"They're those stupid spike fungi I heard about. Great. Just great." Al was confused. Turning his head a little to one side, Al said,

"What? Oh. Those. If you fall on one, aren't you supposed to..." "I'm fine." Ed said. "But aren't those poisonous?"

"I said I'm fine. Okay?" And so the two continued on their way.

-(this is a line)-

By the time they arrived in the town, it was sunset. The brothers checked into a small inn, and walked to their room. Ed decided to take a shower as soon as they got to the room. However, he decided not to tell Al about the fact that the scratches from the fungus had inflamed painfully. He pulled on a t- shirt to cover the scratches, then flopped onto his bed. '_Why am I so tired all of a sudden?' _he asked himself as he closed his eyes.

When Ed opened his eyes the next morning, his whole mind was fuzzy. He thought he saw a suit of armor running though the air chasing a kitty... He groaned and tried to roll over, but the inflamed gouges on his chest burned and his vision swam. He looked down at himself and noticed that his whole chest was red, and felt like it had been scoured by sand paper. He mumbled something incoherent, but it was loud enough that Al got up and came over to Ed's bed.

"Brother?" he asked tentatively, "Are you okay?" Ed may or may not have understood. Ed groaned again, and Al noticed his chest. Al quickly called a local doctor.

"So what exactly seems to be wrong?" The doctor asked when Al opened the door to the hotel room.

"I'm not exactly sure, but he fell on some spike fungus and..."

"Well that would do it. That stuff can kill people." Al, a look of horror on his face, led the doctor to Ed, where he lay sprawled under the sheet. The doctor took Ed's temperature, then pulled back the sheet. He took a half- step backwards at the sight of Ed's chest, then smeared some sort of cream across his chest. Ed mumbled something that sounded like, "I'm not short!", but he didn't put up a fight as the doctor then covered his chest in bandages. The doctor then washed his hands and gave Ed some medicine- and Al knew that Ed was completely out of it because he didn't mind taking the medicine at all. As the doctor left, Ed muttered, "Ponies?" before his consciousness completely slipped again.

*Not sure now he braided it with his arm in a sling but... Oh, well.

A/N- Who shot Ed? Who wants to kill him? I dunno, I haven't written it yet.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N-

Hey, it's me! (_duh_!)

I have the next chapter written.(_duh_!)

Sooo... (_Du- hey! don't slap me! I get paid for saying Duh!)_

_Seriously? _Who's paying you (_Can't tell ya tha_t)

Awww... Come on! (_You're talking to parentheses now, crazy!_)

;P_ (That's very rude)_

_(Lizzy's too busy making mean faces at me to tell you that she doesn't own FMA)_

Sitting on the couch, later that night, Al could be found muttering to himself worriedly.

"The doctor says he was badly poisoned by that stupid fungus... It seems like everything wants to kill my brother!" Al lay down on the couch, lost in thoughts that turned into nightmares.

The next morning when Al opened his eyes, he didn't notice anything unusual, At least, not at first. Then he remembered the day before and rushed over to check on his brother. He found the bed empty. Maybe he felt better and decided to get some food or something.

But when Al still didn't know where Ed was two hours later, he began to get seriously worried.

Al ran to the front desk of the hotel and asked around if anyone had seen Ed. The woman at the desk said she saw a man walking out of the hotel carrying a boy who looked like e would fit Ed's description. She said that she started to yell to the man, but he had hit her hard across the face. Al asked if anyone could have known who the man was. Everyone in the lobby shook their heads no, except for one older man in the corner.

"He had a blue military outfit, spiky black hair, and a piercing look in his eyes." Al thought that the man's description, as well as something in his voice, made the person sound almost like... Roy Mustang? But that couldn't be right, he was on their side.

Al raced up to the hotel room and grabbed his and Ed's luggage. He gave some money to the woman at the desk, and raced out of the hotel. Why would Mustang take his brother? Al found a pay phone on the side of the road and stepped in front of it. He needed to call Central command. At the very least, he could let them know Mustang was a traitor. He deposited coins into the phone and dialed the number. After five rings, a voice came on the phone.

"Hello. Roy Mustang, Central Command." Al was stunned.

"Mustang?" he said, confused.

"Hello, Al." Mustang said. "You called me. Why do you seem so surprised to hear me?"

"It's just that... Ed got kidnapped! Right from our hotel room!" There was a pause.

"Al, tell me everything you know. There's a murderer who's kidnapped twenty seven... twenty _eight_ military officials."

-(this is a line)-

After telling Mustang exactly everything that had happened in the last two weeks, Al could almost hear the Colonel's mind processing every detail.

"I'll need you to come to Central as soon as possible, so we can begin a formal search for everybody missing. I'd send a car, but it'd be faster for you to just take a train."

So Al finished his conversation, and ran to the nearest train station. He was just in time to catch a train to Central. As he sat down on the well- worn train seat, he realized that he'd never ridden on a train alone before- he'd always been with Ed. A lone tear started in the corner of his eye and traced a line to his jaw. He stared out the window for a while. _What if they can't find him? _He thought, _What if we can't get him back?_ Another tear rolled down his cheek. He sensed a movement and there, next to him, was a woman who looked like... His mother? No, this woman had much shorter, lighter hair. Al wiped the tears out of his eyes. She smiled.

"There's something wrong about this." She said, her forehead creasing. "Where's Ed?"

"Gracia! What're you doing here?" Al exclaimed, not answering the question.

"Just checking in on my husband. But you didn't answer my question. Where's Ed? And why were you crying, Al?" Al noticed that he had no choice but to tell her.

"He was... kidnapped..." Al would have said more, but it was unnecessary. Gracia gave him a look that said, without saying anything, that Maes Hughes had been kidnapped too.

Al put his hand comfortingly on her shoulder. Tears came to her eyes, and she brushed his hand off, then pulled him into a hug. After a while, when Gracia released him, Al chose to change the topic.

"So, how's Elicia?" He asked.

"She's been good, I guess. Maes is spoiling her as much as ever." She smiled. "And she's grown so much! She's staying with my parents for a while while I'm here. How's Ed been?"

"He's as short as ever- and he got shot in the arm, then fell on poison fungus. Not too much has really changed with us since last time we saw you guys." Al sighed.

The two of them spent the rest of the train ride talking and by the time the train reached Central, they were both in better moods- at least, a little. They got into the military car that had been sent to take them to Central Headquarters, and waited for the car to pull up to the looming building.

Al wasn't usually more than a little nervous approaching Central Command- he never had any reason to be. But this time, he was shaking. Walking up the steps to Mustang's office, Al noticed something was different. Every person he and Gracia passed was talking in almost a whisper, and seemed to be moving a little faster through the halls than usual. It was a depressing atmosphere, to say the least. Al stepped forward and knocked on Mustang's office door, and Lt. Hawkeye's voice called,

"Come in." Everyone in the office looked exhausted and stressed, and Mustang's desk was more covered in neglected paperwork than usual.

"Alphonse, Gracia." Mustang said, "I'll admit we're in chaos right now, but I think you'll both like to know- we just found out where the kidnapper is. I think. We're sending out a team tomorrow.

"Where are they?" Al asked.

"In a little town, thought to be completely abandoned until we learned that our kidnapper is keeping his victims there." Mustang paused. "And he is keeping them- they're all still alive so far."

"So have you figured out who the kidnapper is?" Gracia asked anxiously.

"We don't have a name yet, but witnesses say the kidnapper looks something like me. And Al, would you like to join the search party that leaves tomorrow?" Al looked at Roy, trying to decide if he was serious or not. When he decided Mustang must be serious, he nodded. "Of course."

A/N- Who's the kidnapper? What happens on the search party? I dunno, I haven't written the next chapter yet. (*_*)


	3. Chapter 3

A/N- So... Here's Chapter three. *Awkward silence*

Ed- Duh, it's chapter three. The people clicked on it, right?

Lizzy- I guess... I just wanted to introduce it.

Ed-Whatever.

Laying in a bed at a nearby hotel that night, Al started thinking. What if the rescue party failed? what if he couldn't get his brother back? What if Ed's mind had been permanently poisoned, and he couldn't remember Al? _No._ He told himself, _that won't happen. I'm being an idiot._ He rolled over in bed, pulled the blankets around himself, an fell into a restless sleep.

The next morning, Al awoke suddenly and completely. It was early, but he couldn't go back to sleep. So he got dressed, grabbed his suitcase, and started to walk towards the stairs. As he walked past an open storage closet, a large man stepped out of the closet, blocking Al's path. Al attempted to walk around the man, but the man pulled out a bottle and sprayed Al's face with something that stung his eyes, and made his lungs burn when he tried to breathe.

Unable to fight back, the man threw Al over his shoulder, and started running for the exit. The man slid onto the fire escape, purposely hitting Al's face on the top of the door frame, so hard that Al blacked out entirely.

-(this is a line)-

"Where the heck is he!" Mustang burst out, "I thought he, of all people, would be on time today!"

"The hotel he stayed at isn't far away. We can figure out what's keeping him on the way out." Riza reasoned.

So, half an hour later, the search party pulled up in front of the hotel. Mustang stormed up to the front desk and asked what room Al was staying in. But he never made it all the way to the room, because about halfway down the hallway, he found Al's suitcase on the ground. Looking closer at the thick shag carpet in the hall, he could see footprints walking down the hall, and then a set of footprints coming out of the closet and continuing to the fire escape.

-(this is a line)-

Al opened his eyes slowly, then closed them again, trying to think of where he was. He put his hand to his head as he opened his eyes again and looked around.

"Al? Hello?" Ed's voice said.

"Brother?" Al mumbled. He sat up, leaning against the bars behind his back. _Bars?_ He was in a cage.

"Al, how did you end up here?" Ed asked. He looked terrible.

"Well, I. . ." And Al explained everything, not leaving out a single detail. Ed moved so that he was sitting next to Al, leaning against the bars.

"But what happened to you?" Al asked. "Why're you all beat up?".

"I tried to get out a few times." Ed shrugged. Al sighed, then smiled. "Mustang's trying to get everyone out of here. I was supposed to leave with them, but I sort of ended up here."

"Actually, a few hours ago, all of the guards ran over to one part of the building, saying there was a disturbance. That was most likely them, I think." Ed said.

"So..." Al said, sounding defeated.

"So we have to get ourselves out of here." Ed finished.

-(this is a line)-

If somebody were to walk through the building, they would find a very odd assortment of people. About thirty military officials, all looking ragged, in cages, in one part of the building. There were about fifteen guards, and a large, erie man- like creature which would make even the bravest person run to their mommy.

"Are we ready to begin?" the creature asks the guards in a voice that sounds like nails on a chalkboard.

"Yes, master. We have enough of them now, I think. We can proceed."

"Very good, bring a few of them here then. I'm bored. I want to hear them scream.

-(this is a line)-

It was hard to tell night from day in the windowless building, but during what felt like the middle of the night, about ten of the prisoners were awakened and taken to a room. The ceiling was high and the entire room was painted a deep red, almost exactly the color of fresh blood.

All of the prisoners were lined up against the far wall from the creature, which was sitting in a large throne. The captives were sat down, guards standing on either side of the row. Once everything was situated, the creature surveyed the prisoners casually, like he was trying to select a chocolate from the box. He pointed slowly at each person, like he was having a hard time choosing. Finally, his finger stopped, pointed at Al.

His whole face paled, and he gave an audible gulp. Ed looked back and forth between his brother and the creature. "Come." said the creature lazily. Al stood up slowly, and started to walk forward. He'd moved about ten feet when the creature muttered, "Hurry up!" And pointed his finger at Al. Al's feet left the floor, and he flew forward as though he'd been slammed from behind. Al tumbled to the ground, then pushed himself back onto his feet. The determination in his eyes showed that he wasn't going to give up _that_ easily.

Hughes, who was about four people away from Ed, finally noticed that the person was Al. He leaned forward and tried to catch Ed's eyes, but Ed's eyes were glued to his brother.

The creature, smiling now, held up one hand and snapped. Al gave a yelp as a deep cut appeared from his ear to his jaw. Al started to bring his arms together to transmute, when Al's arms, clearly out of his control, jerked upward and twisted painfully. Tears came to his eyes, and one of his arms made a noise somewhere between a crack and a snap. Al collapsed to the floor, cradling his arm which was now painfully sprained.

Ed, unable to stand his brother's torture any longer, jumped up and started to sprint forward.

"KNOCK IT OFF! WHY THE HELL ARE YOU DOING THIS, ANYWAY? CAPTURING PEOPLE, WHAT KIND OF A SICK PERSON ARE YOU?" Ed screamed. He probably would have kept screaming forever, but he was silenced by what felt like an invisible truck slamming into his chest, throwing him backwards until he almost hit the rest of the prisoners, sitting against the wall. He was hardly down for a second before he was up, racing towards the creature. The creature then pointed one finger upwards like he had figured out an answer. Ed flew straight up in the air, about ten feet. Then started to fall.

A/N- What happens when Ed falls ten feet to a concrete floor? Actually, this time, I already wrote the next chapter so I know exactly what happens. (*_*)


	4. Chapter 4

Ed, who was used to falling from great heights, was able to land at a certain angle so that his auto- mail leg took most of the shock. There was a dull thud as the metal hit the ground, but Ed was uninjured.

Al, who had been slowly walking backwards toward the wall, hit the wall with an almost inaudible _thunk_. The creature poked the air in Al's direction, like there was an invisible button, and Al's head hit the stone wall with a much louder _bonk_, and Al sank to the floor. The creature then said,

"These toys are getting boring." and poked the air in Ed's direction, too. Ed sank to his knees, one hand held gingerly to his now- broken nose. The creature made a gesture like he was twisting a doorknob, and blood spurted from Ed's nose, and the pain made him black out.

-(this is a line)-

"Ed! Wake up!" Al said. The two of them were now in what closely resembled a concrete box, with the door being a hardly visible rectangle in one wall.

"Ed!" Al said again, a little louder. Ed's eyes slid open, and he made a noise like, "Gluagh!" He brought one hand up to his face, trying to assess the damage to his nose.

"Don't touch it." Al said. After a pause, he said, "I know where we are, in the building. I wasn't completely out, so we could retrace the steps they took to drag us here, then from that big room to the cells, then from the cells to the exit."

"Or... If this thing's so hard to get out of, it might not even be guarded outside so we can just sort of sneak around, find out some stuff, then get out." Ed said, and Al nodded.

"But only if we can do it easily- because I don't know about you, but I want to get out of here." Al said.

"Of course I want to get us out of here." was Ed's short response. Then, without any warning, he transmuted his arm into a knife and started trying to wedge the door open.

"Shouldn't we think more about a plan, brother?" Al asked.

"We don't need to." Ed said, as the door swung open. "They wouldn't expect me to have anything to open the door with. Now, let's go."

The two ran down one long hallway after another, putting all of the strength they had, and a lot they didn't, to run.

"Which way from here?" Ed asked, his voice hardly louder than a breath. Al pointed, and they continued. There was a door right ahead of them, THE door, growing closer by the second. Using every ounce of energy, the two forced their legs to move faster. The door was, by pure luck, unlocked. They opened it, and continued to run. Away. They'd escaped.

A/N- Chapter 4- Done! After I wrote the end of this chapter, I was really unnaturally cheerful for like half an hour. (appleblx and momotheninja were there. They're witnesses) And... Wow, short chapter. Sorry.


End file.
